Quick answer: An OCIP (owner-controlled insurance program) and a CCIP (contractor-controlled insurance program) are both wrap-ups: one sponsor buys workers' comp, general liability and excess for everyone working on a single project. The only real difference is who sponsors it, the owner or the general contractor. For an enrolled subcontractor, the wrap-up covers your on-site work only, so you still carry your own auto, off-site liability, workers' comp for other jobs, and tools and equipment coverage. You give the sponsor an insurance credit, usually calculated from your own rates and payroll, and you report on-site payroll to the wrap-up administrator, not to your own carrier. Your own GL gets a wrap-up exclusion for the project, which can leave you with no completed operations coverage once the wrap-up's tail runs out. Aiden Risk, an AI-native independent commercial insurance broker, reviews the enrollment package and your own policies together so the two fit before you sign.
Most wrap-up guides are written for the owner or GC deciding whether to sponsor one. This one is for the trade contractor or smaller GC who gets a thick insurance manual with the subcontract and a week to sign it.
A wrap-up changes how your bid is priced, how your own policies are endorsed, what your carrier charges at audit, and who defends you if a defect claim lands years after you leave the site. Get it wrong and you can pay for coverage twice and still end up uninsured.
What a Wrap-Up Is: OCIP vs CCIP
A wrap-up, also called a controlled insurance program (CIP), replaces the usual setup where every contractor brings its own policies to the job. A 2009 guidance piece from the National Association of Surety Bond Producers lists the traditional wrap-up lines as workers' comp, commercial general liability and excess liability, with builder's risk, professional and environmental policies sometimes bought alongside.
OCIP: the project owner (a developer, university or public agency) buys and controls the program. CCIP: the general contractor buys and controls it, sometimes as a rolling program covering several of its projects. From the sub's seat the mechanics are nearly identical: you enroll, give a credit, report payroll and work under someone else's policy.
A 2006 Insurance Journal feature described wrap-ups as traditionally used on commercial projects of $50 million or more and spreading into residential work. Some programs are liability-only and leave workers' comp with each contractor, so check which lines yours includes.
What a wrap-up typically covers, and what it leaves to you
Two public OCIP manuals show the pattern clearly. The New Jersey Schools Development Authority OCIP V manual (December 2024) and Yale University's OCIP manual (updated January 2026) both provide workers' comp, GL and excess for on-site work only, and both state plainly that off-site operations are not covered.
| Usually inside the wrap-up | Usually outside it (you carry it) |
|---|---|
| Workers' comp and employer's liability for on-site payroll (often a separate policy issued to each enrolled contractor) | Workers' comp for your off-site work, your shop, and every other job |
| General liability for on-site operations, shared by all enrolled parties | General liability for off-site operations, including fabrication in your shop |
| Excess liability above the wrap-up GL, shared by all enrolled parties | Business auto, including hired and non-owned autos, on and off site |
| Completed operations for a set period after completion | Tools, equipment and materials you own (contractor's equipment or inland marine) |
| Sometimes builder's risk, pollution or professional policies bought by the sponsor | Professional liability, pollution and other lines the wrap-up GL excludes |
Both manuals list exclusions on the wrap-up GL itself. New Jersey's include total pollution, contractors professional liability, asbestos and silica; Yale's add lead, mold, EIFS and professional liability. If your trade touches any of those, you need your own coverage for it even while enrolled. The IRMI guidance on participating in a wrap-up makes the same point: keep your own coverage for off-site work, auto liability and possibly pollution or professional liability, and price any coverage you don't normally carry into your bid.
Check builder's risk separately. A wrap-up GL often carries a course of construction exclusion that removes property damage to the project before completion, on the theory that builder's risk handles it. A May 2025 analysis published by AGC of America walks through a 2025 Eleventh Circuit decision where that kind of endorsement excluded water damage to an occupied first phase because the whole project was not yet finished. Our guide to builder's risk insurance explains what that policy does and does not pick up.
Enrolled parties vs excluded parties
Enrollment is not automatic. The Yale manual says the owner may exclude subcontractors at its sole discretion, and that failing to complete enrollment before starting work may leave a party outside the program. The New Jersey manual lists typical excluded parties: consultants, suppliers who don't install, vendors, guard and janitorial services, truckers whose only scope is delivery, demolition, hazardous materials abatement, off-site fabricators and material dealers. The NASBP piece explains the logic: the program is meant for firms with on-site labor.
If you are excluded, you bid with your full insurance cost and carry everything the subcontract requires, on site and off, which can be stricter than what enrolled parties carry. If you are a prime sub with your own lower tiers, IRMI advises confirming which of them are excluded and removing any insurance credit tied to them from your worksheet.
Enrollment, From the Subcontractor's Side
Enrollment usually happens on the administrator's online portal before you mobilize. Expect to submit an enrollment form, an insurance cost worksheet, certificates for the coverage you still carry, and your own rating information. Yale's worksheet asks for workers' comp and GL declaration and rating pages, your NCCI (or state bureau) experience mod worksheet, umbrella rating pages and, if you carry larger deductibles, five years of loss runs and audited payrolls.
Some programs screen on safety record. Yale's manual requires an average experience mod of 1.00 or less over the prior three years, and will consider up to 1.2 only with documentation of injuries and safety programs. If you want to see what your mod is costing you before a bid, the free EMR calculator shows what an experience mod costs in premium.
The insurance credit: bid deduct vs bid without insurance
Because the sponsor is buying insurance you would otherwise have priced into your work, it takes that cost back. There are two common methods. Bid without insurance: you strip your on-site workers' comp, GL and excess cost out of your price from the start; the New Jersey program requires this. Bid with insurance, then deduct: you bid as normal, show the insurance cost as a separate line or alternate, and the sponsor deducts it from the contract value; IRMI calls these the gross bid and add alternate approaches, and Yale has bidders identify the cost as an alternate amount.
Either way, the number comes from your own program. New Jersey's worksheet builds it like this: on-site payroll by class code, times your workers' comp rate per $100, times your experience mod, adjusted for your other credits and debits, plus GL and excess at your current rates, plus a 15 percent load for overhead and profit. You sign a warranty that the figure reflects what your regular program would cost at that site, and the administrator can ask for your actual policies to check it.
As an illustration with made-up round numbers, a drywall sub expects $400,000 of on-site payroll. At a hypothetical workers' comp rate of $5.00 per $100 the manual premium is $20,000, and a 0.85 mod brings it to $17,000. Add GL at a hypothetical $8 per $1,000 of payroll ($3,200) and excess at $1 per $1,000 ($400), and the subtotal is $20,600. A 15 percent load makes the credit about $23,690. Your real rates, class codes and state will produce a different figure.
That example shows why your real rates matter. If you plug in manual rates and skip your mod and schedule credits, you overstate the credit and hand margin back to the sponsor; the NASBP guidance tells subs to make sure every policy credit is reflected. If you understate it, or bury insurance cost in your labor rates, expect the administrator to find it: New Jersey says subs may have to prove their labor rates exclude wrap-up insurance costs, and Yale's form authorizes the owner to audit your records and adjust the credit.
Ask whether the credit is fixed at bid or trued up at the end on actual payroll and contract value. IRMI flags true-up provisions as a common feature. One state has limited them: New York's Insurance Department concluded in a 2005 opinion under Insurance Law section 2505 that a sponsor may not raise a subcontractor's bid credit to recover an audit increase in the wrap-up premium, even where the contract allowed it. Rules like this vary by state and change, so confirm specifics for your project with your broker, carrier or counsel.
Payroll reporting, safety rules and certificates
Once enrolled, you report on-site payroll to the wrap-up administrator, usually monthly. New Jersey requires a report by the 10th of each month, by workers' comp class code, using straight-time pay only, with a zero report for any month you had no one on site and a separate report for each subcontract. Final payment can be held until all payroll is submitted and audited, including your lower tiers.
Sponsors also impose safety rules, which IRMI suggests pricing into your bid: fall protection at six feet, site orientation, employer-paid drug testing, full-time safety staff above certain crew sizes, and return-to-work programs. You will also file notices when you award lower-tier work and when you demobilize, and keep your off-site certificates current.
What Happens to Your Own Policies
Your own GL, workers' comp and umbrella stay in force for everything else. How they treat the wrapped project is decided by endorsement, not by the wrap-up manual.
The wrap-up exclusion on your GL
Most contractors' GL policies exclude projects covered by a wrap-up, and sponsors often require it. The standard ISO forms, as described in IRMI's glossary, work differently. CG 21 54, Exclusion: Designated Operations Covered by a Consolidated (Wrap-Up) Insurance Program, removes coverage for listed projects where you are covered by a wrap-up, and a Rough Notes article notes it excludes both ongoing and completed operations. CG 21 53, Exclusion: Designated Ongoing Operations, can exclude only your ongoing work on the project, which leaves your own completed operations coverage in place. A limited version, CG 21 31, is described as giving coverage back if the wrap-up is cancelled or non-renewed for reasons other than exhausted limits.
Which one sits on your policy matters more than almost anything else in this article. Many carriers use their own manuscript wording, and some versions reach further than the wrap-up does, for example by excluding work related to the project wherever it is performed, which could leave off-site fabrication for the job uninsured on both policies. The fix practitioners recommend is to ask for narrower wording, or to have your policy endorsed as excess and difference in conditions (DIC) over the wrap-up, which Jones Day describes as making the wrap-up primary for what it covers and your policy primary for what it doesn't, usually for added premium. The New Jersey manual allows exactly that choice: exclude the project, or endorse your policy as excess and DIC.
Wrapped payroll belongs to the wrap-up, not your own workers' comp
When the wrap-up includes workers' comp, it issues a policy that covers your on-site crew, and that on-site payroll is rated there. New Jersey tells enrolled contractors to have their own workers' comp endorsed to exclude the project and to notify their insurers to make their policies excess and contingent over the OCIP for on-site work. The payroll and losses still count toward your future experience mod: Yale's manual says the OCIP insurer reports each enrolled contractor's payroll and loss experience to the rating bureau in the normal way.
The trap is your own year-end audit. If the wrapped payroll is not separated, your carrier's auditor sees it in your general ledger and charges premium on it, even though the wrap-up already covered those workers and you already gave up the insurance cost in your credit. Nationwide's premium audit page lists OCIP and wrap-up records among the documents to have ready. The same issue applies to GL rated on payroll or receipts, and NASBP warns that umbrellas rated on gross receipts can produce a double-dip: once in your bid credit and again at your own carrier's audit. Our guide to the contractor premium audit covers how to separate that payroll and dispute an audit, so we won't repeat it here.
Completed Operations: The Biggest Risk for Subs
Construction defect claims arrive years after you leave the site, so completed operations coverage is what actually protects your balance sheet. Wrap-ups provide it for a fixed term after completion, and the term varies by program. Yale's OCIP provides seven years after completion of the work. The New Jersey program provides a ten-year extension after final acceptance of the entire project.
Practitioners agree on the target: the wrap-up's completed operations term should be at least as long as the statute of repose in the project's state, the deadline after which most defect claims can no longer be filed. Jones Day uses California as its example, where Code of Civil Procedure section 337.15 sets ten years from substantial completion for certain latent defect claims. The NASBP checklist asks the same question directly: is the completed operations period shorter than the statute of repose?
The gap after the wrap-up's tail ends
Here is how the gap forms. The wrap-up's completed operations term expires. A claim then arrives that is still within the statute of repose. You turn to your own GL, but your policy has a wrap-up exclusion for that project, and if it is CG 21 54 style wording, it excludes completed operations on the project whether or not the wrap-up still exists. Business Insurance reported the same practical problem: some contractors' own insurers will not cover anything a wrap-up covered, so their policy may not respond to a claim filed after the wrap-up expires. Yale's manual puts the burden on you in writing: arranging completed operations coverage after the OCIP's term ends is the contractor's and each subcontractor's responsibility.
Watch for shorter terms hidden in endorsements, too. The Rough Notes article describes a repair work endorsement on one wrap-up GL that ended coverage at the earliest of the warranty period, a statutory repair period, or 24 months after the insured's work was completed, which could leave a sub with two years of protection on a project with a much longer repose period.
Warranty and punch list work after the program ends
Coming back to fix something is a separate exposure. Yale's manual says the owner intends to insure the work until substantial completion, may require contractors to switch to their own insurance between substantial and final completion on 30 days' notice, and will not insure warranty or punch list work after the OCIP ends. New Jersey says a sub that returns to the site for any reason after its completion notice does so under its own insurance. If your own GL excludes the project entirely, that return visit may not be covered by anyone.
To close the gap, ask for an ongoing-operations-only exclusion, negotiate an excess and DIC endorsement, or buy separate excess coverage. Keep every wrap-up policy and certificate on file; IRMI notes coverage can extend eight to ten years past close-out. If you are weighing claims-made coverage anywhere in this stack, our guide to the occurrence vs claims-made trap explains why the trigger matters on long-tail defect claims.
Shared Limits and Deductibles Passed Down to You
On your own policy, the limits are yours. In a wrap-up, every enrolled contractor draws from the same pool. The New Jersey GL carries $2 million per occurrence and a $4 million per-project aggregate shared by all enrolled parties, with $150 million of shared excess above it. Yale's GL is $2 million per occurrence with a $4 million completed operations aggregate applying to all insureds jointly, plus $175 million of excess.
The fine print matters. New Jersey's aggregates reinstate annually during construction, but the ten-year completed operations extension has a single aggregate that never reinstates. The Insurance Journal feature warned that defense costs erode the aggregate, that each added named insured speeds that erosion, and that some programs use a single basket aggregate where a bad claim during construction can use up the limit needed for completed operations claims years later. On a rolling CCIP, IRMI adds, limits may be shared across several projects, so another site's loss can drain the limit you are relying on. If the limits look thin for your exposure, IRMI suggests asking for more or placing your own excess above the wrap-up for your interest only.
Deductibles and SIRs charged back to subs
Sponsors often carry large deductibles or self-insured retentions and push part of them down to the contractor whose work caused the loss. IRMI reports sponsor deductibles of about $250,000 on commercial projects (up to $1 million per occurrence) and pass-downs to contractors commonly between $2,500 and $25,000 per occurrence, mostly on property damage claims but sometimes on bodily injury or workers' comp. Yale's manual lets the owner charge a contractor up to $5,000 per occurrence, including defense costs, for GL losses attributable to its work, and states that this amount is not covered by the OCIP.
Compare any pass-down with your own deductible; if it is higher, IRMI suggests pricing the difference into your bid. Check whether it applies per occurrence or per claim, since per-claim wording multiplies your exposure on a defect claim with many units. Our guide to self-insured retention vs deductible explains how those two structures differ when a claim lands.
Contract Review Checklist Before You Sign the Enrollment
Ask for the actual wrap-up policies, not just the manual; the manuals say the policy governs when they conflict, and IRMI suggests reviewing them in person if the sponsor won't hand over copies. Then work through this list.
- Scope: Which lines are wrapped (workers' comp, GL, excess, builder's risk, pollution), and which exclusions on the wrap-up GL hit your trade.
- Course of construction exclusion: Does the wrap-up GL exclude property damage to the project before completion, and how is completion defined?
- Completed operations term: How many years, starting from what date, and how that compares with the statute of repose in the project's state.
- Limits: Per occurrence and aggregate, whether they are project-specific or shared with other projects, whether they reinstate, and whether defense costs erode them.
- Deductibles: The amount charged back to you, per occurrence or per claim, and which losses it applies to.
- Insurance credit: Bid without insurance or deduct; which rates, mod and credits feed the calculation; whether there is a true-up.
- Payroll reporting: Frequency, format, class codes, and what happens to final payment if reports are late.
- Your own policies: Which exclusion endorsement your carrier will attach (CG 21 54, CG 21 53, CG 21 31 or manuscript wording), and whether an excess and DIC endorsement is available.
- What you still carry: Auto including hired and non-owned, off-site GL, off-site workers' comp, umbrella, tools and equipment, and any professional or pollution coverage your work needs.
- Additional insured and waiver requirements: On the policies you still carry, and whether they are required on a primary and noncontributory basis.
- Project close: When the sponsor can move you back onto your own insurance, and who covers punch list and warranty work afterward.
The additional insured and waiver language on your off-site and auto policies works the same way it does on any other job; see our guides to the additional insured problem and waiver of subrogation. For indemnity clauses in the subcontract, our guide to the contractual liability exclusion explains when your GL picks up liability you agreed to take on.
Running Several Wrap-Ups at Once
Growing trade contractors often run several wrapped projects alongside conventional jobs. Each has its own administrator, payroll deadline, credit method and certificate requirements, and each must be scheduled correctly on your own policies. Losing track can mean a missed payroll report, a project never added to your exclusion schedule, or one left on it after the wrap-up was cancelled.
Keep a simple register for every wrapped job: sponsor, administrator, enrollment date, completed operations term, limits, deductible, the exclusion form on your policy, and the date you left the site. When the year-end audit comes, that register is what lets you back the wrapped payroll out cleanly. Our certificate of insurance guide covers what each certificate should show for the coverage you still carry.
How Aiden Risk Solves Each of These Problems
Every problem above sits where the wrap-up and your own program meet, and that is easiest to manage with one partner looking at both. Aiden Risk pairs an AI risk engine built for commercial insurance with licensed brokers, and a licensed broker on every account runs a coverage gap analysis before binding.
| The problem | How Aiden Risk solves it |
|---|---|
| I can't tell what the wrap-up actually covers and excludes | A licensed broker reviews the wrap-up manual and policies with you, line by line, and flags exclusions that hit your trade before you sign the enrollment. |
| My insurance credit was calculated wrong | Your broker helps build the credit from your real rates, experience mod and policy credits, so you neither overstate it and give away margin nor understate it and invite an adjustment. |
| My own GL and workers' comp still charged me for wrapped payroll | Your broker confirms the right endorsements are on your policies before the job starts and reviews your audit worksheet with you so wrapped payroll is set aside. |
| My umbrella is charging me on revenue the wrap-up already covers | Your broker reviews how your umbrella is rated and raises the wrapped exposure with your carrier before audit. |
| The wrap-up's completed operations term ends before the statute of repose | Your broker compares the wrap-up's term with the project state's repose period and, where the gap is real, negotiates with carriers for narrower exclusion wording, an excess and DIC endorsement, or separate excess coverage. |
| My own policy has a broad wrap-up exclusion that may leave me uninsured | Your broker reviews the exclusion endorsement on your GL and umbrella and negotiates for ongoing-operations-only or limited wording where carriers will offer it. |
| Punch list or warranty work after the program ends | Your broker confirms your own GL responds when you return to a wrapped site and that your certificates show it. |
| Shared limits that other contractors can use up | Your broker reviews whether the limits are project-specific, shared or reinstated, and shops 100+ carriers, including surplus lines, for excess that sits above the wrap-up for your interest. |
| Deductibles charged back to me | Your broker reviews the chargeback terms with you so you can price them into the bid, and checks them against the deductibles in your own program. |
| Off-site, vehicle and equipment exposure the wrap-up never covers | Your broker places auto, off-site GL and workers' comp, and tools and equipment coverage across 100+ carriers and 13 commercial lines, for the work outside the fence. |
| Enrollment paperwork and certificates | Your broker assembles the rating pages, mod worksheet and loss runs the administrator asks for, and issues certificates for the coverage you still carry. |
| Several wrap-ups running at once | The AI monitors your risk year-round and a licensed broker acts on every change it flags, and your broker keeps each wrapped project correctly scheduled on your own policies as jobs start, finish or get cancelled. |
Aiden Risk charges no fee to work with it, with no platform fee or subscription; it is paid through standard carrier commissions. The intake takes about five minutes, and most straightforward businesses are placed in as little as 48 hours. See how we cover trades on the contractor insurance page, including contractor general liability, contractor workers' comp and contractor commercial auto. Aiden Risk is licensed in 16 states; the full list is on our licenses page.
Key Takeaways
- OCIPs and CCIPs work the same way for an enrolled sub; the difference is whether the owner or the GC sponsors and controls the program.
- The wrap-up covers on-site work only. You still carry auto, off-site GL and workers' comp, tools and equipment, and anything the wrap-up GL excludes.
- Your insurance credit should come from your real rates, mod and credits, and on-site payroll goes to the wrap-up administrator, not your own carrier, so separate it before your audit.
- The wrap-up exclusion on your own GL decides whether you have completed operations coverage after the wrap-up's tail ends; ask for ongoing-operations-only wording or an excess and DIC endorsement.
- Aiden Risk reviews the wrap-up and your own program together, from the credit worksheet to the exclusion endorsement and the coverage you still need, with a licensed broker on every account.
FAQs
What is the difference between an OCIP and a CCIP?
An OCIP is a wrap-up bought and controlled by the project owner, while a CCIP is bought and controlled by the general contractor. Both typically provide workers' comp, general liability and excess for enrolled contractors' on-site work. For a subcontractor the mechanics are nearly the same; what changes is whose program rules, safety requirements and administrator you deal with.
What does a wrap-up policy cover?
A wrap-up usually covers workers' comp and employer's liability, general liability and excess liability for work performed at the project site, plus completed operations for a set number of years after completion. Some sponsors also buy builder's risk, pollution or professional policies. Off-site work, vehicles, your tools and equipment, and anything excluded on the wrap-up GL are not covered.
Do I still need my own insurance if I'm enrolled in an OCIP?
Yes. Public OCIP manuals require enrolled contractors to keep their own auto liability, off-site general liability and workers' comp, and contractor's equipment coverage, and to provide certificates before mobilizing. You also need your own policies for every job that isn't wrapped, and for completed operations claims that arrive after the wrap-up's term ends.
What is a wrap-up exclusion?
A wrap-up exclusion is an endorsement on your own GL that removes coverage for a project covered by a wrap-up, so the two policies don't overlap. The ISO form CG 21 54 excludes both ongoing and completed operations at the scheduled project, while CG 21 53 can exclude only ongoing operations and leave your completed operations coverage in place. Many carriers use their own wording, so have the actual endorsement reviewed.
How does the insurance credit or bid deduct work?
Either you bid without your on-site insurance cost, or you bid normally and show the insurance cost as a separate amount that the sponsor deducts. The credit is calculated from your on-site payroll, your workers' comp rates and experience mod, and your GL and excess rates, often with a load for overhead and profit. Some programs true up the credit at the end based on actual payroll and contract value.
Who pays the deductible in a wrap-up?
The sponsor carries the main deductible or retention, but many programs charge part of it back to the contractor whose work caused the loss. IRMI reports pass-downs commonly ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 per occurrence, and one 2026 university OCIP manual allows up to $5,000 per occurrence including defense costs. Read whether the charge applies per occurrence or per claim before you sign.
What happens to completed operations coverage after the project?
The wrap-up's completed operations coverage continues for a fixed term, for example seven years in one university program and ten years in a New Jersey public program, usually under a shared aggregate that does not reinstate. After that term ends, claims fall to your own policy, which may exclude the project entirely if it carries a broad wrap-up exclusion. Compare the term with the statute of repose in the project's state and close any gap before you sign.
Should my payroll on a wrap-up job go on my own workers' comp?
No, when the wrap-up includes workers' comp, on-site payroll is reported to the wrap-up administrator and rated on the wrap-up policy, and your own policy should be endorsed to exclude the project. Keep that payroll separated by project and class code so your carrier's auditor doesn't charge you for it again. It still counts toward your experience mod, because the wrap-up insurer reports it to the rating bureau.
Got an enrollment package on your desk? Before you sign, get an online commercial insurance quote at aidenrisk.com and have a licensed Aiden Risk broker check your insurance credit, the wrap-up exclusion on your own GL, and the coverage you still need off site, so the wrapped job doesn't cost you twice or leave you uninsured years later.
